Archive for January, 2009

Today I’m going to share a bit of my fabric stash. It’s like my coming out party! I recently got a few new pieces that I can’t wait to play with!

Can you stand it? Mice-A-Roni fabric! I mentioned briefly in the last post, it’s from the 70s and based on those Wacky Packages I love so well. I think this will end up as zippered pouches.

The pink fabric with chocolate apples may end up being iPhone cozies. I need to work out a pattern, but what could be a cuter cozy?

The big-headed kitten flannel is super soft, though I’m not really sure what it’s going to become. I’m a little hesitant to make a baby blanket out of it with all the crazy new CPSIA laws coming around the bend. It’s causing a lot of kerfuffle among crafters and small businesses that make handmade kids’ toys and clothes. New requirements for testing materials are really cost-prohibitive and could put a lot of people out of business. Hopefully an equitable resolution will be found that can keep kids safe and allow small businesses to carry on.

And here are more big-headed creatures. I don’t know what it is about the big heads. Honestly, if there were live creature with noggins of this magnitude, they’d probably be pretty frightening. And they would most assuredly be falling down all over the place. That little bluebird would never make it off the gound.

The pink polka-dotted fabric is pantsuit polyester all the way. I need to figure out a way to use it so it can best fulfill its kitsch potential. Kitschtential?

I also got this amazing piece of vintage Waverly Glosheen fabric called “Forest Friends”. Waverly Glosheen is one of my favorite vintage fabrics. The colors are always vibrant, the images are bright and fun, and the fabric itself if a joy to sew with. It’s a thick, rich cotton that takes stitches like a dream. They always look straight and perfect.

This image shows about 2 feet of the pattern that probably takes up about a yard. I only have a little over a yard, so it’s not going to be cut. This one is bound for a frame so I can hang it and enjoy it all the time.

Here are some details closer up. You can click the photos for a larger version. This piece is one of three “prize” bits of fabric I have. I’ll show you the other two sometime soon!

And check out this vintage ribbon trim. I’m going to make plain, solid zippered pouches with a strip of this ribbon along the bottom. Simple and cute, kind of outside of my somewhat chaotic norm. I think the lining will be red with white polka dots.

And last but not least – zippers! I always get the mystery assorted packs from Zipperstop because I can’t commit to specific colors. Something always ends up matching something, so it always works out. I love the candy-like quality of all the colors together.

Apparently I’m not the only one who finds them irresistible. These were only out for maybe 20 seconds before Dot took a liking to the green ones.

She’s nothing if not reliable. Oh, Dot. It’s a good thing you’re adorable.

Check it out, I changed my blog header! I’m kind of giving the place a little facelift and a new focus. It’s languished for too long, and I’ve let it fall out of my routine.

As you can see, the new header doesn’t have knitting in it. It’s just got a generally crafty feel, and so do I. It also has Chloe’s tail in it. That wasn’t the original intent, but it made it’s way in there while I was photographing the fabric and embroidery and it was too cute to crop out.

I’m still a knitter, but I’m also a crocheter, a sewist, an embroidered, a cross-stitcher, a . . . whatever you call someone who cuts out bits of paper and sticks them to other bits of paper. I just like making stuff. So from now on, that’s what I’m going to blog about. Making stuff, or just doing stuff.

For instance, did you know that I do custom embroidery for Madewell? It’s a hip new offshoot of J.Crew. I like the clothes a lot. The do the skinny jean thing, so those are hopeless for me, but the tops, sweaters and scarves are great! I’m starting to amass a large collection of their scarves.

Every once in a while, I go in and embroider things onto jeans that people purchase. It started when my friend Julie of Subversive Cross Stitch asked me to represent her during the grand opening of the Soho store. Here’s the sign I cross-stitched for the event:

It was huge, like 18″ or 22″ or so.

Since then, I’ve switched to embroidering because dayum, cross-stitching takes too long. I’ve been doing it at the Natick Collection store and should be there sometime in February. I’ll let y’all know next time!

That dealie on my noggin is a vintage quilt bag that I just made. I need to add the drawstring, but it came out really well.

I’ve also been putting a lot of work into my shops. I decided to use both the Big Cartel one and the Etsy shop. Big Cartel limits you to 100 items, and baby doll, I’ve got way more than that left over from Bazaar Bizarre. As much as I don’t want to blog constantly about the shops, they are kind of a big deal to me. I’m trying to keep up with the bills so my husband doesn’t have to go back to work. At least not for a while. He took a year off to focus on his artwork and he also does the cooking and laundry. His year is almost up, but he’s actually a good cook and I’ve forgotten how to do laundry . . .

I’ll only post about that when there are updates so you don’t get shop overload. I do have some great fabrics to blog about. I just got some from the 70s with a Wacky Packages print. It’s Mice-a-Roni! Tell me, who doesn’t need a Mice-a-Roni pouch? No one. No one doesn’t need that.